By: Frank Daniels

Frank Daniels — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 21:57:47 +0000

Isobel Hunter, CEO of SCL, now Libraries Connected, claims in this interview that her organisation is both a charity and a local government body, although not in the same sentence. So responsibility for ethical matters lies with the trustees and the Charity Commissioners, or maybe not. Not being a member of Cilip means having no ethical responsibility to the professional body for the sector, so saying you will act ethically, and that was said, means nothing at all here. All this means is that chief librarians can implement austerity cuts to public library services whilst claiming political neutrality. Presumably it would be unethical to say “no” to a political decision coming from the purse string holders that downgrades services and staff. Tell you what, if you don’t join the professional body and sign up to that body’s code of conduct, then you can never be responsible for anything you do in the workplace, and more importantly, never be held to account when things are alleged to have gone wrong on your watch. Cilip itself has allowed this situation to develop. Smoke and mirrors, all of it …

Comments on: Goodbye Society of Chief Librarians, Hello Libraries Connected: An interview with Isobel Hunter

By: Frank Daniels